Things in Iran are quite amusing-especially if you are a Christian. The Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani (who was jailed 3 years ago and has recently been sentenced to death after trial by Iranian court) apparently has been going on rampage extorting and raping women. Well, did his trial mention this? Uh, no but…

Iran state media put out a stunning report Saturday claiming that imprisoned Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is facing the death sentence for rape and extortion, not for apostasy and refusing to renounce his religion, as his lawyer, human rights groups and Western news media have reported.

“His crime is not, as some claim, converting others to Christianity,” the deputy governor of the Gilan province, Gholomali Rezvani, told Fars, the semi-official state news agency.

“He is guilty of security-related crimes.”

The Fars comments were part of a larger Iranian media push to counter reports that Nadarkhani was facing execution for refusing to recant his Christian faith.

“We’re trying to determine if this is the state-controlled media throwing it out there,” said Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).

“There’s been no mention of any other charges than apostasy in trial documents.”

In a ruling from the Iranian Supreme Court, translated into English by the ACLJ, Nadarkhani was sentenced to execution by hanging for, “turning his back on Islam” and “converting Muslims to Christianity.”

Talk about shifting goal posts. Will there ever be any fair hearing for this young man? I hope an anti-terrorism charge is not appended to his list of “security related crimes”. I wonder what his wife and children are going through. Is somebody looking after them? Pray for this young man if you can.

May God be merciful to Christians facing persecution all over the world.